Detroit stakes its first-round flag on Blake Miller
The Detroit Lions made their intent plain on Night 1 of the NFL Draft. They selected Blake Miller, offensive tackle from Thompson. The fit looks clean. Miller brings durability and dependability. He started four years and got better where he needed to in his final season. That improvement points to real upside even with all that experience. His athleticism did not raise questions on recent film. The Detroit Lions Podcast mock held firm with Miller, and the board cooperated. It is a strong marriage of need, profile, and projection.
A floated move up for Reuben Bates did not materialize. The scenario had Detroit sending picks 17 and 50 plus a fourth to Washington for No. 7 and a fifth. It proved false. Bates slid further than expected. There was uncertainty about an off-field incident, and whether it influenced his fall remains unclear.
Trade lessons from Night 1’s market
The league-wide trade tape told a story. Using the Fitzgerald-Spielberger chart, the Cowboys paid 2,486 units to receive 1,785. That is roughly the cost of an extra third-rounder to move from 12 to 11. The purpose was straightforward. Prevent Miami from moving that slot to another suitor, Detroit or otherwise. Dallas got Downs and made it count. The Texans sent 28 and 69 to Buffalo for 26 and 91. The math came to 2,571 out for 2,063 in. That gap mirrors an early fifth. The tax to climb was steeper than normal. Over 20 percent for Dallas. A little more for Houston. What looked like a buyer’s market did not play that way.
That context matters for Detroit tonight. If the Lions try to rise, the price likely tops the chart values. Expect a surcharge. Plan accordingly.
Day 2 for Detroit: targets, fit, and flexibility
The Lions hold multiple mid and late selections. Two fourths. Two fifths. Two sixths. And a seventh. The roster has room for only a few more players. Consolidation makes sense. Ammunition is there if a target gets close.
The Detroit Lions Podcast board sets a clear lane. Decker Moore. Gabe Vaki. Dani Dennis-Sutton. Anthony Hill. D’Angelo Jones. Reed Stukes. Dennis-Sutton was the final projection at 50. The fit opposite Aidan Hutchinson pops. He is a crush-the-can pass rusher with some speed. He tested off the charts. The tape does not always flash that level, but the traits are present. He might not grade as a pure value at 50. The role match for Detroit is strong.
Bottom line for Friday night. The Lions secured a dependable right tackle of the future in Blake Miller. The market to move will cost extra. The board has edge help and versatile pieces waiting. Detroit has the picks to go get one.
#detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #blakemiller #offensivetackle #thompson #rou #tradevaluechart #nfldraft #danidennis-sutton #lionsmockdraft
Full episode transcript
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Speaker 6: Hey there. Jeff Risen here. Talk to you on Friday morning. It is April 24. We have some resolution for the first round of the twenty twenty six NFL draft. The Detroit Lions picked Blake Miller, offensive tackle from Clemson. As I had in my final mock draft, pretty happy that I got that one right. Pretty happy that I stuck with it. Wanted to go over a couple of quick things from last night. First, love Blake Miller. Was very easy to see why the Lions would love him too. His durability, his dependability, I've talked about this a lot when we've mentioned Miller on the Daily DLP and in other places and venues where I do talk. His improvement at what he needed to get better at in his final year at Clemson, I remember his four year starter, really showed that there's still a lot of upside with Blake Miller, even though he does a seasoned starter. And his RAS testing, and while I I I will, you know, freely acknowledge, he does not play to that level, of of being one of the elite right tackles of all time in in RAS testing, which he is. He's close enough that you never really question his athleticism when you watch him on film, especially in the last year. This is a fantastic pick. It's a fantastic fit. I am happy that I didn't switch off of my final mock draft projection on Miller, to talk about, I will bring up the trade that we talked about yesterday, that came out. I I put this in the Slack already, the DLP Patreon Slack. Please check that out. It's best $5 a month you can spend. You don't have to worry about being on social media to get access to people like myself and Ash and Gray and Chris and Ross and Bish, and just good discussion. There's a lot of very good intelligent football minds there. But the pick or the trade that, was posited to me on Wednesday was the Lions moving up, giving up seventeen fifty and one of their fourth round picks to the Washington commanders for the number seven pick and a fifth round pick. And the Lions would have been moving up to take Reuben Bain. It turns out this wound up being fake news.
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Speaker 6: Which is fine, and that's that's why I insisted that I don't believe it's going to happen, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it did happen. And being wound up falling much further than expected, I have to wonder if the, unfortunate, tragic, loss of life in a car accident that he would caused, had anything to do with that. I don't know, but I'm sure that will come out. But that's, there were a couple of trades, though, and I wanna bring them up. And I I wanna bring it up before and I wrote this at Real GM last night in my 5¢ on the first round draft. And I wanna I'm I'm gonna read this. This is about trade value. And everybody gets obsessed with, oh, that's a that that that's they'll never do that trade. It's a bad value. Well, so last night, there were two trades. And I'm I'm not just gonna read this because this is from my real GMPs. Using a Fitzgerald, Spielberger chart from over the cap, the Cowboys gave up 2,486 units to get back $17.85. That's the equivalent of sacrificing one extra third round pick to go from 12 to 11 to give it to a Miami, a player that that Miami might have had that much interest in selecting. Now there's something deeper to that that requires more context. But back to the trade value. Houston sent 28, 69, and $1.67 to Buffalo for 26 and 91. The value chart says the Texans paid 2,571 to get back 2,063. The difference in that is an equivalent of a fit an early fifth round pick. When I talked earlier on a daily about the tax the team's paid to go up, that's what I'm talking about. And now it's this one up being a a steeper tax than normal and a steeper tax than I expected. And that surprises me because it felt like this would be a buyer's market and it wound up not playing out that way. I love actually that the Cowboys did what they did to make sure that they got their guy, to make sure that Miami wasn't gonna trade that pick to anybody else, Detroit or otherwise. And they got downs, which is fantastic. It's one of the best picks of the first round. Even, like, the most hardened cowboys haters will have to acknowledge that. So I thought with that context, when you go into tonight and you're looking for the lions to trade up, it's gonna cost more than maybe what that value chart says it would, and and more than you would perceive for the tax. Normally, the tax is about a 10%, and the the cowboys paid over a 20% tax in value on it. Houston paid a little bit more than that to take a guard in Keelan Rutledge, who would have been spectacular in Detroit. There's actually a lot of Tate Rutledge in his game. I'm not sure I would have done that for a guard, but I'm not the Texans. Let's get into tonight, what might happen for the Lions. They have one pick. Now? Now This episode is
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Speaker 6: Oh, see how much that changes? 50. And because I got my first round in the mock right, I don't have to change anything in the second round projection. The players that I'm looking at that they might take, and I'm just gonna take these straight from my final mock draft of the Detroit Lions podcast. Derek Moore, Gabe Yakis, Dan I, Dennis Sutton, Anthony Hill, D'Angelo Ponds, and Traydon Stukes. I made Dennis Sutton my final pick. I'm sticking with that because I think he's a fantastic fit for what the lions are trying to do at the fantastic fit for what the lions are trying to do at the position opposite Aidan Hutchinson. I don't necessarily think that he's worthy of the fiftieth pick, but I'm not gonna complain if he is because he is what they look for. He is a I'm gonna alienate Gray here. He's a crush the can type of pass rusher, but he does have some speed. He tested off the freaking charts much like Blake Miller. You don't necessarily see that on his game film, but nobody would ever accuse Dennis Sutton of not being a good athlete. And the upside is there. So I'm gonna go with that one. Will they trade in? Kinda think they will. Because, again, they have two fourths, two fifths, two sixths, and a seventh. And they have maybe enough room for three more players on their roster, including their second round pick. Why not package them up? I understand that you can bring in competition and, you know, try to push some of the the lower rung players off the roster spot, which is fine. That's that's good. That's what healthy teams do, and I don't have an issue with that. But I would rather go get more quantity or quality than quantity. So if they wanna move back in at the end of the third round, you know, in the nineties and use, like, a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth or some package thereof to get up into there to take a defensive back like Bud Clark or, AJ Halsey, although I don't think I think the Lions like him more than I do, but we'll see. He might not last that long. Or a Kyle Lewis or a, there's any number of defensive players that you can get. I do think it would be for defense. I don't have an issue with that at all, and I almost expect it because, hey, Brad hasn't made any trades yet. Gotta be getting Nancy. I'm gonna call that a show. I'm about to hit the road, make this recording done. Appreciate y'all coming in, spending time with the DLP on this precious Friday. Enjoy the second round. Enjoy what looks like a beautiful day across the Mitten State. Jefferson signing out. Be good to one another, everybody.